Statement re: Jordan Peterson

August 10, 2018

Friends,

When I came across Jordan Peterson, I was initially interested by his arguments about Nietzsche, Jung and Dostoevsky.

The Guardian published a review of his book earlier this year but shortly after printed another article, one that attacked him personally. However questionable I think his arguments are now, I objected to the way he, rather than his ideas, was demonised. My tweet was about his right to hold his ideas rather than support for them per se.

Following my tweet, I started seeing more clearly the cracks in his reasoning: his systematic assault on what he calls neo Marxism, his hang up on social justice warriors, his narrow biological determinism around gender issues were perturbing to say the least. And the fact that he would never acknowledge the malignant impact of colonialism or neo liberalism was evidence that his is a one-sided argument. It just took me a little longer than some of you to fully realise this. I didn’t make that public. I should have done and I am sorry for that.